Macedonian court orders former PM to serve jail sentence

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Macedonia’s criminal court has ordered a former conservative prime minister to appear at the capital’s jail by Nov. 8 to begin serving a two-year prison sentence for influencing officials to buy a luxury car.

Skopje’s criminal court said Friday it had notified Nikola Gruevski, prime minister from 2006-2016, during a court appearance for a different issue, after an attempt to deliver the summons to his home was unsuccessful.

Gruevski, currently a lawmaker with the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party, was sentenced in May for unlawfully influencing Interior Ministry officials over the purchase of a luxury Mercedes to transport him at an estimated cost of 600,000 euros (about $690,000).

He denies the charges, saying the trial was politically motivated. He says he will appeal before the Supreme Court.